Fred's Story
by Rita Arabella Black
Summary: Based on the vampire, Fred, from the Stephanie Meyer novella, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner. This is his story. T rating's for language and violence.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is my first attempt at fanfiction for the Twilight Saga. The character, Fred, is based on the vamp who lived in **_**The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner**_**. If his last name was ever given in the book, I sure can't remember what it is. Hope you enjoy. –Rita**

Chapter 1

I make people sick. I always had the ability to belch and fart on cue, but ever since that bitch bit me and turned me into one of the undead, I can just think of a disgusting smell and it turns people, or in my case, _vampires_, sick. The only one who didn't irritate the crap out of me was that cute little girl, Bree. I think she hated the bastards as much as I did, but she was afraid of them, too. Me, I was just annoyed.

My name is Fred and I was a full time student at Seattle Pacific University until they kicked me out for my shitty attitude. Not a good time to be going through my agnostic period while enrolled in a Christian university. Anyway to keep the money coming, I told my stepfather I was still in school and he sent me cash and prayed for me. I sure could use the prayers now, not that they'd do any good. I had a job, too, until that night.

I was a dishwasher at a trendy restaurant downtown Seattle. The manager gave the server jobs to the more attractive UW students so I and the illegals were stuck in the kitchen. I didn't mind my job, but it was so freaking hot in the kitchen I ducked out as much as I could without calling attention to myself. This kid named Riley struck up a conversation with me one night outside in the alley as I took my 100th smoke break. He tried to be friendly, but there was something creepy about him. The first thing he asked me was if I needed some weed. I told him to get away from me, but he stuck around anyway. I was beginning to think he was gay, but then he told me about his girlfriend, and how he'd like for me to meet her.

Now I'm thinking he's a pimp and, shit, I haven't been laid since my last night at SPU, so why the hell not? I threw off my sexy dishwasher apron and followed him across the street into another alley. The next thing I knew, I was on fire, screaming for someone to kill me to end the pain. I don't know how long I was writhing on the ground, praying to die, but it seemed like forever. When the pain finally went away, it was replaced by an insatiable thirst. But it wasn't water I wanted; I needed blood; human blood.

Through my fog, I saw that Riley was still there at my side. When I finally stopped screaming, he smiled at me and said, "Welcome to your new family. Let's go feed." He took me to this place I didn't recognize and showed me a couple of people who were lying down on a beat-up, urine-soaked mattress. They were passed out and he kind of smiled at me and pointed to one of them. "You know what to do," he said.

The strange thing was I did know what to do. I went straight for the throat and tore it open; I lapped up the blood like a starving man at a feast. It tasted so sweet that I drank all the blood in a matter of seconds. I pushed the body away and tore into the next one; a woman, I think. She resisted for a half a second, but I discovered I was stronger than I'd ever been before. I could have literally crushed her with my little finger, but I was too hungry to experiment with my new found strength. It took me less time to finish her off. I felt sort of sloshy full, but I was still thirsty. Riley pulled me away and shook his head. "That's all for tonight. I've got to get you inside because it's almost dawn and I don't want to you to burn up. I need you."

Burn up, I thought. What was he talking about?

"You're a vampire now, Fred," he said reading my expression. "She turned you."

Vampire? Was he nuts? Well, I had just drained the blood of two junkies, so maybe there was something to that after all.

He took me to this dark basement and told me this was where I was supposed to stay until it got dark. We couldn't go out during the day because we would burn up. He asked me what I knew about vampire legends and all I could think about was coffins and crucifixes, and what he'd said out sun light. I was pretty scared for a while because he threatened to throw me outside if I didn't obey his every word. It was that important. He dumped me in the basement with about ten to fifteen other vampires who were just as thirsty as I was. We got on each other's nerves and there were lots of fights. Body parts were being thrown about like confetti at a New Year's Eve party and that always pissed Riley off. He told us we shouldn't fight among ourselves that we were going to be fighting a greater enemy.

Riley took us out every week or so to feed in groups of four or five. He didn't want to draw attention to us by the police or the general population. There were enough runaways and derelicts and junkies on the streets to keep us fed. The taste was always slightly off because their bodies were contaminated by drugs or disease. I was thirsty enough to ignore it.

After about three months, my head started to clear up just a little so I was able to think about something besides my thirst. I actually started to look around and watch the others. Riley's little army was growing and they were really starting to piss me off. That's when I discovered my "gift". I could repel them with my thoughts. I even made Riley yak a couple of times. When I wanted to be left alone, I just thought my "good" thoughts and they steered clear of me. _Sweet._

After about six months I started thinking maybe Riley was full of shit. What he was saying to us didn't make a lot of sense to me. He was very dramatic and if he was human, I figure he could have been one of those doomsday cult leaders. Everything out _there_ was a danger and we had to stay inside. He loved us and he was the only one who could protect us. This was about the time he started drilling in the danger of the yellow-eyes who were coming to Seattle to kill us all.

If we weren't feeding or ripping each other's limbs off, we were listening to his stupid lectures. Blah, blah. I tuned him out and spent more and more time cocooned away from the others. The only one I'd let in was that cute little girl, Bree. She seemed more aware than most of the others and she, too, had begun to question the crap Riley was feeding us. She told me that she didn't think sunlight would kill us. I wasn't too sure about that from what I knew about vampires, and I sure as hell wasn't going to test her theory.

More often than not, some of the vampires would go nuts and kill people Riley hadn't picked out for us; regular folks who weren't junkies or prostitutes or bums. That's when Riley went absolutely ballistic on them . One night he killed six of our little family he was so angry. He made a large bonfire and threw body parts into the fire. "This is the only real way to kill vampires," he told us.

_Really, _I thought? What about sunlight? That's when I decided to test Bree's theory.

The basement was sealed off real good, but I managed to kick a hole and crawl into the main building. Nobody saw me because I kept them away with my vampire repellant. I could see light outside and I was too chicken shit to bust out. Okay, I never claimed to be brave. I'd seen _From Dusk to Dawn_ way too many times. I was really pissed off at myself for being such a wuss, so I took it out on everyone around me; making them physically sick.

After my little temper tantrum, Riley pulled me aside and told me I was her secret weapon and that my gift would totally destroy the yellow-eyes. He told me he admired my abilities and was very proud of me and he liked me more than the others; that I had my head on straight. If I hadn't been such a natural born cynic, I might have bought his speech. That's when I decided I was getting the hell out.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Riley kept the others in a constant state of chaos, always referring to our creator simply as _she_. She was creating a great army to protect all of us against those who would destroy us. The training intensified to the point we were training (or as Riley called it getting ready for battle) 16 hours a day. He showed us how to fight, but most of the younger vampires were too stupid to learn anything. The attacks on the civilians picked up because the vamps got real cocky.

I tried to go out whenever Bree went to feed because I kind of liked her. She was smarter than the rest and there was something about her that I wanted to protect. We spent a lot of time in my little corner, not saying anything. That was another reason I liked her, she didn't have to talk all the time like most girls. She still had her doubts about Riley and she told me her friend, Diego, felt the same way. I didn't like Diego very much because, well, I wasn't sure why I didn't like him, but it might have had something to do with the fact that Bree seem to think he hung the moon.

I acted like I didn't care about anything, but I really did. I felt bad when I killed, even the junkies and whores. There was something about taking a life so that I could live unsettled me a little, but I still killed when I was thirsty. I couldn't _not_ kill, could I? The urge was so strong I had to feed.

One day not too long after Bree told me about going out in sunlight, Riley told us we were almost ready to face the devil yellow-eyes and that we could defeat them by killing their human pet. He passed around a red blouse and made us memorize the scent. It was exquisite and it made my throat burn like fire. I had to have this human's blood. I was ready to follow my creator anywhere. Then he started some bullshit story that there were so many days of the year that vampires could walk out in sunlight and today was one of them and we were all going into the light. _Well, screw that._ All of a sudden I'm not going to turn into a crispy critter if I stick my fool head outside?

I looked at Bree when Riley told us that and she gave me a knowing smile. She raised her eyebrows and nodded. "See? What did I tell you?" she mouthed.

Riley had to push (literally) some of the dumb asses outside, I hovered around in the back, admittedly a little nervous, but I didn't hear any unusual screaming or anything as the vampires hit the daylight one by one. So, I thought, what the hell and I pushed myself outside.

The day was overcast, as it usually is in Seattle, but I had to squint because it seemed so much brighter. It felt nice. I wasn't beginning to burn at all; the sights and smells were incredible and I could have spent the rest of my life in that one spot soaking up the sounds and flavors, but of course, Riley had a plan and he pushed us to an open field where we spent the rest of the day drilling.

Riley set us up with a "treat" and then put us back in our basement. The others were in a good mood, but I was feeling more anxious about what was coming. I cleared out my little corner and Bree settled next to me. She told me Riley had sent her friend Diego ahead and she was looking forward to seeing him again. I told her I was leaving and invited her to come with me. She hesitated and said once she found Diego they would join me. Not a perfect plan, I'd rather it was just me and Bree, but I didn't want to show her my hand, as they used to say in Vegas. Okay, I'd play her good pal, and she'd never know that I liked her. I was too much of a loser for her anyway. Never mind that if she was alive, she'd be major jail bait. Sometimes life really sucked.

Early the next morning—apparently another one of those days we could go outside, Riley got us up and told us this was the day we were going to kill the yellow-eyes. The other vamps were worked up and I cheered like an idiot like the rest of them. I nodded to Bree and she smiled and waved as I moved to the back of the line. They headed west and I hung back, walking with them but real slow. Nobody noticed because their heads were in the battle. Finally as the last one disappeared, I started running like the devil himself was chasing me. I didn't have a real plan; I told Bree we'd meet up in Tacoma, so that's the direction I headed.

I doubted that Riley was truthful about the sunlight, and how there were only "x" number of days that were safe. That sounded like pure bullshit to me, but still I was cautious so I traveled at night, not sure exactly where I was going. The freedom felt good in a strange way. Although the burning in my throat still made me crazy, I was now able to focus on other things. I never looked at myself in a mirror—_would I be able to see myself, I wondered, _but I knew that I probably looked like the other vampires: red eyes, pale skin and in a way, beautiful.

One day, I accidently stepped outside during the day light. The sun was shining and as I looked at my hand, I saw that I was, well, _sparkling. _At first I thought I was about to spontaneously combust, but then I remember that Bree had said something about how she and Diego glittered. Now I understood why Riley didn't want anyone outside during the day; we'd be pretty hard to miss. Funny thing was, I didn't glitter when it was overcast or right at twilight.

The longer I stayed away from Riley and the other vampires, the braver I became. I was determined to debunk some of the myths I'd believed about vampires since I was a child. My second big adventure took me to a Catholic church. I didn't feel weird when I thought about a cross, so I decided to test my theory by walking into a church to see if the cross would repel me. It didn't.

I'd always heard that vampires were repelled by the scent of garlic, so I stole some from an open market and sniffed away. Actually, I was repulsed by the pungent smell, but a tuna fish sandwich had the same effect, so I figured it was more about the idea of human food than the myth about garlic.

I never could figure out where the sleeping in coffins came from, but then I thought maybe it had something to do with the whole sparkly thing. I'm sure early vampires figured out they stood out like a disco ball in sunlight, so that's why they don't come out at night because we sure as hell never go to sleep and there's no such thing as being tired. I figured I could run all the way to the North Pole without stopping. Maybe one day I'll test that theory.

So, I waited and waited in Tacoma for Bree and Diego, but they never showed up. I figured either they changed their minds or decided to settle in that place they went to kill the yellow-eyes. Of course, they could have returned to Seattle and I was thinking, maybe I'll head back there to see if she was all right.

I would have gone back sooner, but I was not interested in running into Riley or "her", but I got too curious for my own good. It had been almost two weeks since I took off when I decided to go back to Seattle. Surely the group had returned by now.

It took me less than fifteen minutes to run back. I went to the house where we'd been staying, but it was totally abandoned. It looked exactly the way it had the day we left. Maybe they decided to stay in that place, Forks, after all, so as stupid as it sounded in my brain, my curiosity got the better of me and I took off, following Bree's scent.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: For Scarlet Mind Ninja-Rita**

Chapter 3

I was in no particular hurry because, frankly, I felt kind of silly taking off looking for a chick I couldn't possibly hook up with. Lord knows I couldn't compete with the likes of Diego. I practiced my cool and aloof attitude and laughed at myself most of the way.

Bree's scent was easy to track once I started to ignore the other scents. I couldn't pick up Diego no matter how hard I tried. Riley was all over the place, and he even took off in another direction, so I was able to keep focusing on Bree.

Her scent abruptly ended in a big open field. There were a lot of different smells around, immortal that I didn't recognize (must have been the yellow-eyes) and a very powerful dog-like odor. I walked around the perimeter trying to pick up Bree, but it was like she had vanished or something.

I could smell the human—so enticing—and I wondered who had killed her, probably that idiot Raoul. Her scent almost made me want to forget why I was there; it burned my throat so badly. I closed my eyes, concentrating on the human. I knew if I didn't feed soon, and I meant _right now,_ I knew I'd be useless, so I turned around and headed toward a town I'd passed earlier.

I've always been kind of a snatch and grab kind of a guy; mostly fast food on the run. You know, in and out in a second, over powering lunch, then making a quick getaway. Riley taught us that. Of course, he also told us that we had to leave the body looking natural—whatever the hell that meant, or destroy it completely, so we wouldn't draw any attention to ourselves. Humans weren't supposed to believe in vampires after all.

I hung around the edge of town until dark and then I headed for what I figured was the seediest part of the city. There were a couple of night spots that looked promising, but it was too early for drunks to duck into the alley for a quick pee, so I went inside one of the joints, dimly lit so the humans wouldn't freak out at my eyes, and took a seat in the back.

The waitress strolled over to my table and gave me what I thought was a flirty smile. She wasn't a dog; this chick was gorgeous. I gave her my crooked smile, and she sucked in her breath and looked kind of dazed.

"Hi," I said.

She licked her lips and smiled back at me. "I haven't seen you around here before."

I nodded. "Nope, just passing through."

She leaned in, kind of bending over to show me her tits. "Maybe you can be talked into hanging around for a while. I get off at midnight." There was that smile again.

I was not the kind of person who was used to women falling all over me, so my first instinct was check to make sure my wallet was still in my jeans. And then I remembered I didn't have a wallet or money for that matter.

I've always been a loner; actually, I hated to be around people. That's where my "gift" came in real handy, I could dissuade people from getting too close, but this girl was pretty and I was very thirsty, so I turned on the charm. I smiled back at her again.

"Maybe I will hang around a little longer," I said. She'd put her hands on the table, I guess so I'd get a better view of her tits and I touched her. She jumped back quickly.

"Your hands are so cold," she said, laughing.

"Warm heart," I lied pitifully and she laughed again.

"I can help you warm them up," she flirted.

_I doubt_ t_hat, _I thought. I never realized that I was colder than humans, but now that I thought about it, she did seem to be hotter than I remembered.

I acted like I was thinking about her offer. She smelled so good, not like the yellow-eyes' pet, but good and I remembered why I went into the bar in the first place. "Got a break coming soon?" I asked.

She flushed and her heart was racing. I wanted to take her right then and there. I didn't think I could hold it together to get her outside. I wasn't cool enough to bide my time; I wanted her now.

"Fuck your break," I said, grabbing her hand. I pulled her out the back door and she was ready for something completely different. She moaned softly as put my lips on her neck and pressed her body into mine.

I pulled up and looked at her face, pulling her hair away from her neck. "I'm real sorry about this, but I'm thirsty."

She looked at me confused and then panic settled in her eyes. She struggled for an instant before I bit her. After that she didn't move too much. I guess she went into shock or something because I was able to drain her in less than two minutes. I kind of pushed her away from me and she fell to the ground like a rag doll. I stared at her for a long time until I thought I heard a noise, but it was just a cat jumping into the dumpster.

I had no idea what I was going to do with her body. I didn't have a lot of time to consider my options because I figured somebody would come out soon.

"Well, shit, Fred," I said to myself. "I definitely have to learn some self control."

I dumped the body about a mile away from the bar and decided now was a good time to go back toward Forks to look for Bree. The monster side of me didn't care if humans found the body and started a panic; I fed and that's all that was important at the time.

As I headed toward Forks, I thought about the girl; I didn't even get her name. I had a modicum of remorse for killing her, but my survival was more important and what else could I do?

I had a lot to learn about being a vampire.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

My first lesson in learning being a vampire was about to hit me in the ass.

I went back to the field again where I'd last picked up Bree's scent. I still couldn't track her out of the field. It was frustrating.

_Damn, _I thought. _Where are you, Bree? _Then it dawned on me: what if the yellow eyes had won? I actually laughed out loud. I dismissed the idea as quickly as it formed; it was too ludicrous.

"Well," I said aloud. "This sucks." I decided to go back to Seattle and hang out there.

I headed off in a new direction, and I crossed an invisible boundary that I could sense and smell. I was a few miles outside of Forks when the hair on the back of my head started to stand up. Something was out there and it was watching me. I grinned to myself. What was I freaking out over? I was an immortal, nothing alive could kill me. And whatever watching me was definitely alive. I could hear its blood swooshing through its veins, but it didn't make me thirsty; it kind of made me want to puke.

And then I heard another heartbeat and that same god-awful smell. So, real casual-like I turned around and was about to beat it out of there, when I was suddenly standing in front of two gigantic wolves. There were bigger than horses. Instinct started to take over and I crouched down into an aggressive stance. I bared my teeth and was ready to rip up some BFW's.

The larger one looked at me and kind of sniffed, like it was rolling its eyes, thinking, "Oh, please." As weird as it sounds, the wolf looked intelligent, like it knew what I was thinking. The smaller one nodded at me. _What the fuck?_

I held up my hands like a surrender. "Nice doggie," I said, glancing behind me making sure when I turned to haul ass there weren't any more big ass wolves in my way. I started thinking about the foulest thing imaginable and both wolves took a couple of steps back, shaking the odor out of their heads and started to yak. This was my chance to get away.

All of a sudden, this big ass wolf started to shake harder and before I could blink—if I did blink—in its place was a naked woman. I was too stunned to move.

"God, that's so gross. Did you do that?" She was still gagging.

"What the fuck?" I said, still too stunned to move. I mean, seriously, a wolf changed into a chick. _Right in front of me. _And she was _fine_.

"Is that your 'special skill'?" she asked. "It's gross."

She caught me staring at her. She snorted and reached down and took something that was tied to her leg. She slipped a dress over her head. "Now, stupid, can you concentrate?

"You're on our land and technically I could rip you apart and burn the pieces, but Alice told us you'd be coming, so I'm supposed to make nice."

She turned to the wolf that still was having a hard time with the image in his head.

"Will you stop that?" she yelled at me. Dumbly, I complied. "_Thank you," _she said sarcastically.

"Seth, go get your little bloodsucker buddies. I'll keep him here. And don't worry, if he tries anything, I'll just show him my tits. I don't think he's ever seen a naked woman before."

"Hey," I said defensively. "I've seen plenty of naked women."

"Sure, "she said rolling her eyes. "What are you waiting for, Seth? Go!"

The wolf took off and we both watched him until he disappeared into the trees. She turned back to me and tilted her head to the side, completely checking me out.

"What's your name?" she asked suddenly.

"Uh, Fredrik, Fred," I stammered.

"No kidding? Fredrik?" She laughed. "You must be a junior or something. Nobody names their kids 'Fredrik' anymore."

"Junior," I confirmed. "After my dad."

"Really? After your dad. Is that where the junior comes from?" She rolled her eyes again.

This chick was really starting to piss me off.

"So, Junior, what's your whole name?"

"Fredrik Matthew Strydr. Uh, Junior."

The chick sniggered again. We just kind of stared at each other after that.

It took about five minutes before the wolf returned and with him were two vampires. One was this real cute girl with dark spiky hair and a blond man. He had a tense look on his face, but the chick smiled at me.

"You must be Freaky Fred," she said, still smiling at me. I looked at her face and froze. Her eyes were golden, just like Riley had said. I looked at the other vampire standing close to her; protecting her. His eyes were darker, almost black, but they had a golden rim around the irises.

"He's got a mean gift," the wolf-girl said. "Not bad for a bloodsucker." She actually sounded impressed.

"Leah," the male vampire said, shaking his head. But he did smile. "Be nice."

I thought that I couldn't get any more confused, but I was. How could these vampires be so…_civilized?_ This was definitely not anything close to how Riley described them.

"Look," the chick, Leah said, scrunching up her nose. "I'm outta here. The stink's getting to me. You can hang around with your bloodsucker pals if you want, Seth, but I have to get some fresh air. Bye Freaky Fred," she said waving back at me as she ran into the woods.

"Wow," the male vampire said, trying to suppress a grin. "Leah must like you."

The vampire chick came closer to me and I kind of cringed. I don't know what I was expecting, and then all of a sudden I felt this calm fall over me. I wasn't going to run away or 'skunk' them. I wanted to listen to the girl.

"Thanks, Jasper," the girl said. She looked lovingly at the man and I felt a wee bit jealous that she wasn't looking at me that way.

"My name is Alice," she said kindly. "I saw you coming. You're looking for your friend, Bree." That wasn't a question.

I nodded numbly.

Alice sighed. "I want you to come with us. We need to talk."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Wait. Wait a minute," I said. "How did you know I was coming? Did Bree tell you? Is she all right?" I had about a million questions rolling around in my head. My brain was calm, but that didn't keep me from being scared shitless. I needed to know what was going on, but they weren't about to tell me anything.

Alice glanced over to the blond dude, who looked like he was about to rip my head off or something.

"Will you trust me?" she asked so sweetly, I felt like I was being hypnotized.

"I don't know," I said. "I'm confused."

Alice patted my shoulder. "I know, Fred. We're taking you to our home. There are some immortals there that are going to tell you everything. I promise you no one is going to hurt you."

"Well, will you at least tell me about Bree? You know her?"

"Carlisle will tell you everything."

I couldn't get another word out of her while we raced through the forest. Before we'd gotten too far, we came to another clearing. There was another yellow-eyed vampire standing, waiting for us. He didn't look very happy to see me.

"Edward," Alice said. "What are you doing out here? We were on our way back, you should have waited."

"Do you think for one minute that I would let him anywhere near her? Hasn't she been through enough?" the one Alice called Edward said.

What the hell was he going on about? She who? Was he talking about Bree? I thought as I watched the scary vampire.

"Not, Bree," Edward said. "Bella."

_This vamp was reading my mind_. Think about this, shithead, I thought. Edward back away from me retching. Both Jasper and Alice looked amused, but they didn't say a word as Edward fell to his knees.

_Get out of my head, I yelled silently. _He nodded his head and I backed off.

"Well, that was disgusting," he said weakly, still retching slightly.

"What did he do?" Jasper asked, struggling not to laugh.

"Let's just say he has a rather revolting special skill," Edward said standing up straight. "I must admit I am impressed."

All of a sudden I didn't hear another word because I could _smell _her; the one we were supposed to kill and she was close by. My throat burned and if there weren't three vampires who had a vested interest in the human and would have more than likely ripped me apart, I would have gone after her. I wanted her blood more than anything I had every wanted in my whole life. Edward didn't like that one bit and he was ready to kill me. It would have been easy enough to throw out a disabling stench so I could have gone after her, but I waited a second too long and Edward was on me like, ironically stink on shit, and he pinned me to the ground. I was diverted to the point that I couldn't move or think for that matter. He had a death grip on me and I started to feel him pull my head. If Alice hadn't stopped him, I would have been one dead vampire.

"Edward, you need to get Bella out of here for a while," Alice said. "He's been trained to go after her. You need to leave now."

Right then we, meaning the dude with my head in a killer lock and me, were surrounded by four more vampires. All of them had the same yellow eyes and I thought if Edward didn't take my head off, one of these would. _I am totally fucked._

Edward released me. "Alright," he said.

"Excuse me," I said politely, trying to get everyone's attention. "But can you tell me what it _is_ about this chick, Bella?"

"Long story," Alice began, "which we will tell you as soon as we get back to the house."

Edward helped me to my feet and then he took off running. I watched him as he disappeared into the tree line. "No I think I'm cool here. Why don't you tell me everything now?"

All of the other vampires turned and looked at the other blond dude, who was nodding thoughtfully. "Of course," he said. "You must be confused and afraid right now. I am Carlisle. Welcome to our family."

"Last time I heard that someone had just bitten my neck," I said sarcastically. "Riley told me all about you people. You wanted to kill us and take over Seattle."

Carlisle sighed. "I'm sure he told you a lot of things; things that just weren't true. Your creator wanted to kill Bella…"

"The human," I said quickly.

Carlisle nodded patiently. "We killed her mate and she was out for revenge, so she chose Bella."

"Is she like your pet or something?" I asked.

"No. She's as much a part of our family as all the others. Edward and Bella are in love and they are going to be married soon."

I snorted. "That's going to work out great, isn't it? A human and a vampire? Good luck with _that_ honeymoon."

The real pretty blond chick that came with the rest of them rolled her eyes. "I'm glad Edward's not here to hear that."

The big curly black haired dude threw his head back and laughed. "He's funny," he said.

"The problem is, Fred," Carlisle said, ignoring the two vampires, "we, as a family, will do whatever it takes to protect Bella. We don't want to hurt you but I want to be very clear that we respond if you try to hurt Bella."

"I got it," I said. "So, what happened to everyone? Did Riley and the rest show up?"

Carlisle nodded. His lips were down turned into a frown. "They came here to attack us and we fought back."

"Where'd everybody go?" I asked. I swear I was that naïve. I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that these yellow-eyes defeated Riley.

"They're dead," someone said.

"Wait. All of them?" Oh, fuck, I thought.; Bree. I couldn't ask; I couldn't say her name. She didn't want this shit. She was going to leave them and come with me. I fell to my knees and covered my head with my hands.

"I'm sorry," Carlisle said. He started to put his hand on my shoulder, but I shrugged it off. Piss on these yellow-eyed bastards.

"Why did you kill her, man? Fuck! She was just a little girl. She wouldn't have hurt any of you. She had a kind heart and she knew all the crap Riley told us was bullshit. She knew the sun would kill us; he had everything figured out long before I did."

Carlisle sat down next to me and told me how Bree surrendered and that the Volturi executed her because she was a newborn. He also told me that Riley had betrayed all of them in the end and abandoned them. Everything he said made sense. I didn't doubt for a minute that Riley would leave those kids to fend for themselves.

I didn't understand anything about the Volturi or why they intervened. From what Carlisle told me they were ready to take responsibility for Bree and teach her and then he hesitated. "We're ready to offer the same courtesy to you. Stay with us for a while and we'll teach you everything you should have been taught when Victoria turned you. There is one condition and I want to make this part very clear."

"Okay," I said, I was ready to at least listen.

"You can't feed on humans while you're here," Carlisle said.

I snorted. Right, I thought, I'm going to starve to death; _I don't think so._"What the hell do you eat?" I asked.

"Animal blood. We're vegetarians."

"You mean like squirrels and cats and shit?" I said. "Well, fuck that."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The big black-headed dude threw his head back and laughed loud and hard. "I'm telling you, Rose, this guy is hilarious. _Squirrels and cats!" _He was trying to control himself. The gorgeous blond gave him a tolerant sexy smile. _I wish she'd give me that look. _

"No, dude," he said, "Try mountain lions and grizzly bears."

_Oh. _Well, yeah, that made more sense and it sure as hell didn't sound as wimpy as squirrels and cats. Now I really felt stupid. Everyone seemed to be amused by me.

"Emmett, why don't you take Fred on a hunt? Maybe he'll decide he'll try our diet," Carlisle said.

"Does it taste human?" I asked.

Jasper shook his head. "No, but it's better than mule deer. Closer to human and it'll keep you strong."

"And after a while your eyes will turn amber, not that god-awful red," Rose said. Damn, she was hot.

"That's why you have yellow-eyes?" I asked. B_rilliant, Captain Obvious._

Carlisle nodded. "Yes." He didn't even roll his eyes at my stupid comment.

I shrugged. I'd rather drink human blood, especially this female Bella, but I realized at the moment that's completely out of the question. I figured I had a couple of options: take off back to Seattle or hang around for a while and learn some stuff. There was a hell of a lot I didn't know, and this guy Carlisle seemed to be willing to teach me. The group as a whole seemed civilized and I stood a better chance of survival if I listened to them. On the other hand, it could be some kind of a trap, and then I was totally screwed.

If what Carlisle said was true, then this little band of quiche eaters had destroyed Riley's army of blood thirsty savages. I knew I was a one trick pony, but that trick was very effective, so I was thinking I'd stick around for a little longer and if worse came to worse, I could pull out my bag-'o-trick and make a clean getaway. I'll have to admit I was real curious about them; I'd just have to stay alert.

"Sure," I said finally, "I've got some time to kill. I guess I could try a little grizzly bear if you have one handy."

The big guy, Emmett, clapped his hands together and laughed. "Let's go, dude. Come on Rose," he said. "This'll be fun."

I thought the chick would beg off, say she had to do her nails or something, but she grabbed Emmett and said she was ready to go. "Come on, Fred," she said.

I looked around and the others were encouraging me. I think they knew better than to surprise me, so Emmett said, "Follow me," and we headed off south.

"We have to stay off the Quileute Reservation," Emmett explained. "We'll travel south a little further and than head east."

I nodded and we ran and ran and ran. The thing was, I figured I could run all day and night. I'd never tried anything like this before. When you're stuck in a dark basement during the day and only let out a few hours to feed once a week, somehow one's creativity gets stifled. I had no idea what my strengths were. I had a pretty good idea what my weaknesses were, though. Ignorance was probably one of them.

Riley had been no help; he just wanted us to be mean and stupid. And scared, of course. He had kept us in a constant state of fear, and that worked for him. I guess we were the ultimate mushrooms—kept in the dark and fed bullshit. Old joke, I know, but completely true.

After we'd travelled what seemed to be three or four hundred miles, I started to get curious about their "vegetarian" diet.

"How hard was it?" I asked. "You know to give up human blood."

Emmett laughed, as I figured he would, but Rose took the question seriously. "Honestly, I don't know. I've never tasted human blood and neither has Emmett. Carlisle created us and we've always been like this."

"Seriously?" That freaked me out. How could that be? The smell and the taste were the ultimate high and so overpowering. "Never? You don't crave it or anything?"

"The smell gets to me, I'll admit that," Rose continued, "but I know Carlisle would be disappointed in me."

"It's not like he'd say anything. He doesn't judge, but he is really, uh, what's the word I'm looking for, Rose?" Emmett asked, without a hint of his joking tone.

"Compassionate," Rose provided. "He loves humans." She looked at me. "And for me, at least, I'd rather be human. This is not something any of us would have chosen for ourselves."

That gave me something to think about. I hadn't really thought about it myself. Yeah, I was pissed when I got turned, but I didn't really have anything going on at that time in my life that I missed. I didn't miss being human and, honestly, it was cool to find out more about what I could do.

My thoughts were interrupted when Emmett and Rose abruptly stopped. "Ready for some fun?" Emmett asked.

Emmett took the first bear down and basically showed me how it was done. Rose chased after a huge male and had him down in a split second. I couldn't help admiring her grace. _Damn, she was sexy when she killed bears. _Emmett joked that I should take a baby bear, but I took down a nice sized one, not as big as the one Rose killed, but it wasn't a cub, either.

Tasting the blood kind of freaked me out. It sure as hell wasn't human blood, but it did taste a little better than the junkies and derelicts' blood Riley fed us. Okay, so it was something I could get used to, I reckoned, or at least something I could have when humans weren't around.

I pushed the grizzly away from me. I was full because I'd fed earlier, so I wasn't interested in eating another bear. Emmett was on this second and Rose had finished hers. I noticed that the bear I had killed had dug its claws into the ground to get away, I guess, and several of its claws were still stuck in the dirt. I don't know why, but this fascinated me and I took one of the claws and stuck it in my pants pocket. A souvenir? I had no idea, but it was something I felt I had to have.

My shirt was torn up from the teeth and claw marks, but I didn't have any of the animal's blood on me except a tiny bit on my chin. Emmett and Rose didn't have any scratches or blood. They must have been doing this a long time.

I doubted what Jasper told me about being strong, but I did feel stronger, like after I'd fed on a human. That part, at least, was true. Was I completely satisfied? No, but I didn't feel the need to feed again right away.

"Well," Emmett asked. "What do you think?"

I thought about it for a moment and then nodded. "Not bad," I said. "But they sure do put up a bigger fight than humans." I wiped the blood off my chin with my fingers, and then licked the blood off.

Emmett and Rose looked at each other. Neither of them cracked a smile. I guess they were trying to figure out whether I thought this was a good thing or a bad thing.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to update and this chapter hopefully sets up the next couple of chapters, but it may not make a lot of sense now. -Rita**

Chapter 7

It took more time to get back to Forks because Emmett didn't see any rush in returning. I didn't much care because, frankly, I was trying to come up with ways to impress Rose. After about thirty minutes I figured out that Emmett and Rose were together and there was no way she would have looked at me twice. She was just being nice to me because of Carlisle.

This group of vampires certainly was different from what I was used to and I thought about the differences on the trip back. A coven that doesn't hunt humans; I could not wrap my head around that concept at all, but I witnessed it myself and I even tasted animal blood. I think they fancied themselves as more refined and more like a family than a coven.

Emmett and Rose took me to their home and I must say I was impressed. It was huge and it looked like it had been there for a hundred years and at the same time it looked brand new. There was a warm, homey feel about it. They were all waiting on us in the gi-normous living room.

"You guys must be loaded," I remarked, stunned at the size of their house.

Emmett slapped me on the back and laughed.

Carlisle seemed a little embarrassed. "Wise investments," he said.

That's cool, I thought. I was probably the only vampire in the world who was dead broke.

I immediately smelled the human, but I also knew she and Edward weren't there. I doubt I'd see him again and figured he'd already taken her as far away from me as he could go. That was probably a very smart move because I was thinking I could have taken on the whole lot just to get to her.

"Did you enjoy yourself?" Alice asked. I nodded.

"I've had worse," I said.

"Have you decided to stay with us for a while?" Carlisle asked.

Frankly, I hadn't decided anything yet. I was curious and I sure as hell had a lot to learn, but I wasn't the type of person who depended on anyone for anything. If I kept moving around I wouldn't need anybody's help.

When I didn't answer right away, Carlisle's wife spoke up. "You're welcome here for as long as you want to stay, but no one is going to force you. The only thing we ask is that you be considerate and not feed around here."

"Okay. Sure. I'll hang around for a couple of days, I guess."

They seemed pretty happy I was going to stay. I had no idea what they had in store for me; probably thought they could teach me some manners or something.

"Alice?" I asked as walked through the house, "why do you want me to stay so badly?"

Alice pressed her lips together. "It was mostly Esme's idea. You can't believe how distraught she was when the Volturi killed Bree. She was so sorry we couldn't have done anything to stop it, so when I saw you headed our way, she was convinced that she, well, we could help you."

"You saw me coming?" I asked trying to understand what she meant.

Alice grinned. "I see the future. Sometimes. Sometimes I can't see and what I see can always change. I saw you coming to Forks to find Bree and, well, I saw that you were going to stay with us for a while and that you were receptive to new ideas. Esme believes you'll be happy with us. She really wants to help you."

That kind of stopped me short. I didn't think there was anything that could help me and I was kind of freaked out that he could see me coming. I was pretty much a lost cause. I never had been the most social animals, and no one had ever gone out of his way to help me with anything. My stepfather gave me money to pay for my education, but I didn't believe he really gave a shit about me; he was doing his Christian duty and keeping my mom off his back.

I had always been a loner and I didn't think this civilized group of vampires would welcome me with open arms once they really got to know me. But, like I said I had a lot to learn about surviving as a vampire.

Carlisle told me his life story and how he'd turned Edward, Esme, Rosalie, and Emmett. He said he did it because each of them was so close to death they wouldn't have survived, so he was actually saving their lives. He told me how he tried desperately not to lose his humanity and found that animal blood kept him alive and strong. He became a doctor because he genuinely wanted to help humans. He told me he wouldn't stop me if I wanted to continue feeding on humans, but he hoped that I'd realize and embrace the alternative.

I was glad he didn't judge me about my decisions; after all I barely knew any of them. They seemed nice enough, but I just wasn't sure I wanted any part of their 'vegetarian' diet. I started thinking maybe there were other ways to get human blood without killing someone, like stealing from a blood bank or something equally stupid. And I know if I had the power to stop before the human died, I'd have to kill him anyway, because if I could stop I'd turn my lunch into a vampire.

I'd been in Forks for a couple of weeks; still hadn't seen Edward or his Bella. The family wanted them to come back home, but they knew he wouldn't risk her life. I still wanted her so actually that was a pretty sane thing, keeping her away, but I knew the consequences. Besides they would never let me get that close. They would only trust me so far. If I couldn't control myself, I figured they were going to kill me or kick me out.

Carlisle never left me alone; I was always shadowed by either Jasper or Emmett. That bugged the shit out of me because I wasn't totally out of control. I could resist humans, well, humans in and around Forks anyway. If I wanted to feed, I'd hunt away from town, but I rarely got away by myself in order to feed. That was very frustrating. I went out with the others and hunted bears and mountain lions. Regular herbivores, like deer and elk, made me sick to my stomach; I hated the smell and taste.

I had to resort to my 'special' gift to get away, and I punked out and traveled away from Forks. They were 'saddened' and disappointed in me and I told them it was much harder than I realized, but I was trying.

I thought for sure Carlisle would throw me out, but he never did. I guess he was telling me the truth about him not judging. He knew that had listened to him and he told me that's all he asked. Hell, maybe I would try harder.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

I made the mistake of telling Carlisle I would try harder, so I was stuck with moral lectures and hints from Jasper on transitioning from a newborn to a mature vampire all night, every night. Jasper told me it took about a year before I could control my urges but honestly, I thought I was doing all right, most of the time. There was the one unfortunate incident with the cocktail waitress, but everyone seemed to be happy that I had felt some remorse. And I hadn't killed anyone since they took me in. According to Saint Carlisle and the rest, I was well on my way.

I wondered if they knew just how irritating they were most of the time. It wasn't that I didn't _kind of_ like them, because I did. I liked Jasper a lot because he was quiet and I think humans still got to him too. Emmett was like a big kid, very adventurous, but he sure was loud. Carlisle and Esme reminded me of my parents when I was a little kid—not my real dad, but my stepdad. Rosalie was just _hot_ and she wasn't really as snooty as she looked. Too bad she was so crazy about Emmett. Alice was just cute as a bug and she always seemed to be happy.

Alice was getting the mansion ready for "the" wedding. Apparently Edward was going to marry Bella in August so she, Esme and Rosalie stayed gone and on the computer a lot, ordering stuff f. I was pretty sure I wasn't invited to the wedding. It would be a real buzz kill if I attacked the bride and all the human guests, including the mother of the bride during the ceremony.

So I had less than a week to decide what I was going to do with my life and I had to vamoose while the Cullens celebrated THE freakiest event in the world.

I told Carlisle I had a lot of thinking to do about my decision, but I knew I couldn't sort out anything with them suffocating me. These vampires were _too_ damn good. I told Carlisle to back off because I needed time to think and surprisingly, he let me go.

I took a walk through the woods, just thinking about nothing in particular, but a lot in general. I found out there weren't too many rules to being a vampire; the only rule that would get my head separated from my body and thrown into a huge camp fire, if I broke, was not keeping _our_ secret. Apparently humans weren't supposed to know we existed. _Yeah, like they'd believe it anyway._ I figured that in order for us to survive, humans had to stay fat, dumb, and happy. _I got that_. I sure as hell didn't want villagers to chasing me with pitch forks and torches.

Carlisle made it sound like not feeding on human blood made us more_ human._ It wasn't like I was planning on wiping out an entire town or snatch babies out of their mothers' arms for crying out loud. My attitude was my feeding on humans was a way of weeding out the herd especially if I fed on drug addicts and derelicts. I'm sure Carlisle would argue that all human life was "special" and "sacred" but I knew that was bullshit. In my opinion, there're a lot of humans that weren't so fucking special. Okay, so I could learn to refrain from feeding on innocents. The problem was all humans smelled really, really good; the good ones and the bad ones. I'd just learn how to control the fire that burned in my throat and concentrate on killing the bad ones. Bullies had it coming, I reasoned.

So, once I learned to control my overpowering need to feed on anything human with a pulse, I was going to become a super hero, a freaking vampire caped crusader, taking out the bad guys and protecting the innocents folk. I wondered if I could talk my mom into sewing me a costume. I might ask her if I ever got to the point where I didn't want to kill her.

I didn't realize that I'd walked non-stop for over an hour, but suddenly I smelled something and stopped dead in my tracks. I looked up and right in front of me was that gray wolf. And she looked pissed. Her head was down and she was growling at me.

"Hey," I said casually. "How's it going? Out for a stroll? Me too. Think it's going to rain?" If I could sweat, I would have been sweating bullets.

The wolf snorted at me and rolled her eyes. She growled again, turned around and walked back into the woods. Less than a minute later, she came into the clearing in human form. She'd taken the time to dress, _dammit_.

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Hey dumbass," she said, "didn't anyone tell you about the boundary line?"

"Uh." She had the uncanny ability to bring out the moron in me.

She laughed at me. The laugh was supposed to be harsh and bitter, but I thought it sounded rather pleasant.

"Wolf got your tongue?" she chided again. "That was brilliant. I thought all you vampires were supposed to be smooth and debonair. You suck."

I just stared at her. My brain refused to come up with anything witty or snarky to retort. Okay, I'd admit it, this chick was hot and I did have a hard time concentrating. Funny thing was, her smell repelled any thoughts of feeding on her. She smelled more like an animal than a human, but it didn't gross me out.

She continued. "I really hate all you bloodsuckers. Actually you're why I'm here. I'm a werewolf so I can kill vampires. We killed a bunch of your little friends not too long ago."

"There weren't friends of mine," I interrupted. _One was,_ I thought. Carlisle said the Volturi killed Bree, but I wouldn't be surprised if this one had done it. I instinctively growled at her.

Those made her big wolfy-eyes lighten up. "So you did have some friends there?" she laughed bitterly.

"No, I didn't," I insisted. What the hell matter did it make? They were all dead; Bree, Riley and the rest of them.

"Aw, poor baby. Hey, can I ask you something?" she asked. I know she was just goading me, but what the hell. I nodded.

"Why'd they leave you behind? What happened? Did you sleep late and miss the plane to Forks?" She laughed at her joke.

I clenched my fists tightly and turned to walk away thinking she's going to jump on my back and tear me to shreds, but at that point, I didn't much care.

"Hey, sorry. Did widdle Leah make you cwy?"

Damn, for someone as hot as she was, she sure was annoying.

"Look, what's your name? Leah? If you're going to attack me, would you please get on with it? I'm getting bored here." She was beyond pissing me off.

Instead of lunging at my throat, she laughed. "If I didn't hate you so much, I might even like you." She turned around and walked back into forest.

I got the distinct feeling I'd be seeing her again.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

I stood watching her leave, trying to analyze her words; maybe find something in them that was actually a compliment; maybe she was saying she wanted me. _Nah_. She was worse than I was about playing with her food. It was only a matter of time before she and her little friends would tear me to shreds. That is if the Cullens didn't get to me first.

I wanted to do a little experiment; go into town and see if I could resist killing somebody. Just the thought of human blood still gave me a big chubby, but I was beginning to believe I might be able to control myself. I doubted seriously if Carlisle would approve and I know Esme would have a cow if she thought I was going to put humans in harm's way. Jasper would have torn my head off because he's suspicious of me anyway. Emmett just might go along with me because he's always ready for an adventure. He can resist the smell because he's never tasted human blood and he's been around a lot longer than I have, but I know it appeals to him.

I wandered back to the Cullen's house, half aware that there was something following me in the woods. It must be those pesky werewolves I thought. As I turned into the path to the Cullens' I gave an offhanded wave and I heard a howl that sounded a lot like a laugh.

I approached Emmett with my idea and he didn't seem very enthusiastic about it. I figured since Alice could predict the future she wouldn't mind my little experiment, but unfortunately, she and the other women were gone, some kind of wedding-flower emergency. I didn't want to try this by myself, so I went up to the roof to pout.

Jasper found me about an hour later. Emmett told him what I wanted to do. _Damn, doesn't anyone have any secrets around here? _

"Emmett told me what you want to do, and I…"

I held up my hand. "I know, I know. Lousy idea," I said, interrupting.

Jasper grinned. "No actually, I was just going to tell you that I think it shows a lot of maturity. I've watched your progress, Fred, and I think that you are growing quite well."

"So it's okay that I go to town?"

"Oh hell, no. Not now. Give yourself a couple of months, and then try it with one of us going with you."

I sighed dramatically. I couldn't get real excited or pissed off because Jasper had a way of calming me down. "I don't have two months," I tried to explain. "You're going to kick me out before the big wedding. Where am I supposed to go, by the way? Back to Seattle?"

Jasper didn't say anything. I think he saw my point. "I'll speak with Carlisle when he gets home. I still don't think you're ready."

I don't know what his beef with 'newborns' was, but he sure as hell didn't trust me.

I realize now that I had real "delay of gratification" issues. Once I made up my mind that I wanted something, I wanted it right then. I don't think that started when I became a vampire, either. If I had any sense, I would have realized that maybe I wasn't ready to face reality and I could wait a little longer. But that wouldn't be me. If the Cullens wouldn't help me, then I'd go out by myself.

On reflection, I know that was a really stupid idea.

So, I headed out for town and I hadn't gone a whole mile when I was surrounded by a pack of angry snarling werewolves. _Oh, shit._ I held my hand up and said, "I come in peace."

The gray wolf snorted at me. That must be the Leah chick. Damn, doesn't she ever take a break? Another big wolf walked up closer to me, and transformed into a human form. He was, apparently the head wolf or chief or something and he was not amused.

"Where are you headed?" he asked brusquely.

"Well, _mom,_ since it's obviously none of your business, I'll tell you anyway, just to let you know what a nice guy I'm am," I smiled at him. Then I started thinking of a rather noxious odor I had come up when I wanted the vampires in Seattle to back off. And it worked, the pack reacted just like I wanted them to I glanced back to see how they were doing, and all of them—probably about six altogether- were rolling around on their backs. "See you later, suckers," I yelled at them as I tore off back toward the Cullen's house, keenly aware how far until the so-called boundary line.

Suddenly I felt something heavy hit me square in the back, knocking me to the ground. One of the wolves had shaken off my little stink bomb and tore after me. There was a lot of snarling and growling as it pinned me to the ground so I couldn't move. I felt a hard tug on my arm; it hurt like hell as my arm was being torn from the socket. I let out a blood curdling scream as my arm snapped off.

And just as quickly, the wolf jumped off my back and let me up. I was still seeing stars at this point but I turned toward the wolf ready to attack, when I stopped. It was that damned gray wolf and she had my arm dangling in her mouth. I swear she was mocking me; she even looked smug.

"Mother fucker that hurt!" I said, nursing what was left of my arm.

She threw her head up and pitched my arm at my feet. She snorted and shook her head, like she was clearing something out of her nose. Then she turned around and trotted back to the tree line, turning once to look at me. I swear I heard her laughing at me.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

With my arm securely reattached (which hurt like a mother, thank you for asking), I stumbled back to the Cullen's house and hid away on the roof until it got dark. I was feeling sorry for myself, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that Leah was actually doing me a favor. Had I made it into town, and more than likely killed one of the innocent Forksers (or whatever you call them) and the whole pack plus the Cullens would be on my ass.

Alice jumped on the roof and walked over to me. She was smiling at me and looked kind of concerned. "Are you all right," she said. "What happened?"

"I just got my arm ripped off."

She laughed and patted me on my shoulder. "I see you've managed to reattach it without any difficulty. I wish you would have waited for me to come back."

I shrugged.

"I know that you're pretty much of a loner, but in order for you to survive, you've got to ask for help at least until you're ready to be on your own again. We really do just want to help you."

"Why are you bothering with me?" I asked sullenly.

"Because we think you're worth saving. Look, I know we look like the goody two-shoes of the vampire world and that probably gets on your nerves, but look at it this way; none of us chose this life. I didn't and I'm pretty sure you didn't either; we're just trying to make the best of it. "

That was for sure. Becoming a vampire was about one billionth on my wish list, right after being torn limb from limb. _Check, check._

"I don't like animal blood," I confessed. "I want human blood. Have you ever tasted human blood?"

She smiled. "Of course I have. But it's a priority thing with me."

"What if I just feed on bad guys?"

She laughed again. "Oh, the superhero complex, of course, we've all gone through that; more recently Jasper. You really should talk to him. He's had the hardest time adjusting. Me? I knew it was coming so it was easier for me. I think it's wonderful that you don't want to hurt humans; that's a good start."

"Did you see me kill someone? In your vision, I mean."

She looked frustrated. "No. I didn't. The first scenario I saw was you inside a restaurant picking up a girl. Her name was Lauren. You're very charming when you want to be," she added.

"First scenario? There was more than one vision?"

She nodded. "The second one brought me back here. You were on your way to town and you just disappeared. You must have met up with the werewolves."

"You could say that," I said.

"They could have easily killed you," she said frankly.

"No shit. But she didn't. Maybe it was bad enough she tore my arm off, but she had me pinned down and it would have been so easy for her to bite my head off."

"Hmm," Alice said she absently patted my shoulder again. "Leah? Are you sure it was her?"

I nodded. "I've seen her before, in both forms, actually. She's pretty hot for a stinking werewolf."

Alice laughed. "Focus," she admonished playfully. "Wow that surprises me. Leah hates us and she seems to be looking for a reason to attack. Sam has to keep a tight leash on her." She grinned. "No pun intended."

We laughed together. I felt a little better; it sure did give me a lot to think about. Alice stood up and reached out her hand for me.

"Are you coming?"

I nodded and took her hand. "Tell me more about this Lauren babe," I said as we jumped from the roof. Alice's laughter filled the night.

The rest of them were waiting for us in their beautiful but useless dining room. It wasn't like a Carlisle-at-the-head-of-the-table I-am-head-vampire scene, but he did take the head spot. Esme sat next to him with the others rounding out the table. I was surprised to see Edward sitting next to Emmett; I was sure he was going to keep Bella as far away from the dangerous killer vampire (that would be me) as possible. His face was absolutely smooth and I couldn't even begin to imagine what he was thinking.

Apparently, he knew exactly what I was thinking because he said, "She's safe."

"Good," I said. "It's good you took her away. I can't help wanting her because that's what they pushed on us, day after day. Kill her, destroy her. I'm sorry, Edward."

He tensed up, but struggled to regain his composure. He still didn't like me, but he wasn't trying to be antagonistic.

"Jasper says you are maturing very well," Carlisle said, bringing the conversation back to why they called the meeting in the first place. "He told us your idea about going into town and trying human contact. While I don't think it's wise, we're not going to stop you."

"Would you consider taking one of us with you?" Esme asked.

"Yeah, I'd prefer that. I don't intend to run down there by myself," I said. Edward snorted. _Oh yeah, the mind reader_. _Oops_. _Better have purer thoughts._ He smiled again.

"Leah? Really?" Edward said, astonished.

Alice nodded.

"Well, well," he said looking at me.

"What?" Carlisle asked.

"Apparently Fred got attacked by the werewolves, well one of them."

Everyone at the table looked at me in surprise. "Leah didn't kill him?" Emmett said, astounded. "No way! Wow, dude, she must like you."

"No, she doesn't," I said quickly. "She was just teaching me a lesson. I assure you, she doesn't like me at all. In fact she made that quite clear."

"Well, for whatever reason, you are extremely lucky," Carlisle said.

"Yeah," I agreed. But I had no idea why.

So they talked about it and talked about it some more. They finally decided that Jasper and Alice would take me to Port Angeles just to see if I could resist killing off the population. They could not bear to let me loose in Forks.

There was an enormous uproar when the werewolves found out I would be unleashed on a population. _Jeez, can't anyone keep a secret around this place?_ Sam insisted that some of his pack follow me to make sure I didn't bust away from the vampires and go on a killing spree. And naturally he picked Leah and her little brother Seth to go. I don't know who was more annoyingly excited: me or Leah.

She acted all upset, but I bet that she wasn't as pissed off about the deal as she pretended. Seth was excited to be doing anything with his friends the vampires. For some strange reason, he and Edward were all chummy. He took his assignment with great seriousness, except that he was stoked to be running with the vampires. He was basically a little kid. He was always jumping and running around; kind of reminded me of a puppy I used to have. Leah snapped at him several times, but I think she was just trying to prove how put out she was at having to follow our caravan.

"I don't see why I have to go," whined Leah. "I don't care who the bloodsucker kills or doesn't kill in Port Angeles."

"We appreciate your help with this," Jasper said gravely. "It's important that we keep a close eye on Fred."

"I think it's a bit of overkill," I said under my breath. "Jeez. Why not put me in a dark room and throw a couple of vestal virgins in? One way or another I'll have a good time."

Absolutely no one laughed at my feeble attempt at lighting up the situation. Jasper, Alice and Seth growled at me.

After several seconds passed, Leah threw her head back and laughed.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"Yeah, like I said, Scooter, if I didn't hate you so much, I think I'd like you," Leah said. This time I could tell that she was actually joking with me. She had a nice smile.

"Yeah, and if I could get over your smell…"

We both laughed at that. Alice and Jasper were staring at us, not quite sure how to take our camaraderie. It was very clear that Seth didn't know how to take us either.

I think we both liked the idea that we shocked people and didn't do what was expected. Well, I liked the idea, anyway. The problem with Leah is that she could turn on me in a second and she knew I knew it.

The ride to Port Angeles was pretty quiet after that. Jasper kept looking at me from the rear view mirror, but Alice didn't say anything. Once she opened her eyes really wide like she was seeing something, but I think she was getting frustrated because the werewolves were clouding her visions. Seth fell asleep almost immediately when the car started moving and Leah was trying to recover from her being nice to me. She stared out the window and kept asking Jasper to roll the windows down.

Jasper drove like a maniac, but it felt natural to me. Alice and Jasper were busy discussing where they should take me; it was important that we remain discrete and not bring attention to ourselves. Seth and Leah were to remain in human form unless (until) they were needed to drag me off the dying corpse—or something like that. The argued the pros and cons of whether it would be better if I weren't hungry. Frankly, I thought they were being overly cautious. Shit, it wasn't like they'd let me get away with anything. I don't know why they bothered with this anyway.

I suggested we go into a park and I strike up a conversation with someone; preferably a female. Two reasons, really; first, a female, hello? You never know when I might get lucky and women are really easy. Leah and Alice both gave me dirty looks.

"That's disgusting. Like you'd ever get lucky," Leah laughed as she rolled her eyes. "I hate to tell you this, bloodsucker, but you aren't that charming."

"Bet me," I said.

"All right, you're on. Wait, what's the bet?"

"We'll think of something," I said, turning my attention to a nice looking woman jogging by. She was looking at us and I flashed her my nicest smile. She kind of blushed and smiled at me. I nodded a kind of "How you doin'?" look and she slowed slightly, and as she did, I got a whiff of something that almost made me run her down. Somewhere on her jogging trail, she had fallen and scraped her knee and it was oozing blood. I grabbed hold of the first thing I could, and that was Leah's arm. She started to slap my hand away when she saw or smelled it, too. She grabbed hold of me and tried to knock me to the ground. I wanted to run after the jogger, but a part of me resisted. I was surprised that it was something I thought I could handle because frankly, the idea of having Leah rip off another limb I was fond of did not appeal to me at all. I knew that I had to get out of there in a hurry and I started to turn to let Alice and Jasper know I was leaving.

I saw that Jasper's face had a real pained look and his hands were bunched into fists. I don't think Alice noticed Jasper because she looked like she was fighting the urge to go after the woman. Frankly I was stunned. We could all hear the chick's heartbeat and the smell was overwhelming. I knew Alice was fighting and could possibly resist, but Jasper wasn't handling it very well at all. His breath came out in pants and he crouched down to spring. We all reacted at the same time, I rammed into Jasper hard and so did Alice. Seth started shaking when he realized what was going on and transformed into a wolf and helped Alice and me get him to the ground.

"Get him out of here," Leah was screaming at Alice.

"He doesn't want to attack," Alice pleaded.

"I'm all right," Jasper said. "I'm fine. Let me up. My apologies. You seem to be handling this better than I."

"Yeah, who'd have thought that?" I stood back while he got on his feet.

Jasper looked ashamed of himself. I guess he was having a rougher time than we'd expected.

"I think it's time we left," Alice said. I know she was disappointed in Jasper, but there was no way she would yell at him while we were still around.

"You go; I'll stay here with Fred," Leah said calmly.

I think both of them were anxious to get the hell away. They hesitated for one split second and then they tore off in the opposite direction with Seth running after them. Leah and I watch stunned for a minute, but when they were out of sight, she literally fell down laughing.

"What the fuck?" I asked, laughing so hard the birds started flying away from us.

"And they were all worried about you," she said. She reached out her hand and I helped to her feet. I pulled her a little too hard and she bumped into my chest. I tried to steady her and my instincts took over and I pulled her closer and kissed her.

She pushed me away hard started wiping her mouth. "Why'd you do that?" she screamed at me.

I didn't know what to say; that I didn't know why I kissed her? It was just instinct? Or that I felt something for her? Something impossible.

"I'm sorry," I said quietly. "My mistake."

I stepped away from her. She'd wrapped her arms around herself and was rocking back and forth. I thought she was going to cry, but of course she didn't.

"Touch me again, bloodsucker and I'll remove all your moving parts," she growled.

"I got it," I said, holding up my hands in surrender.

"Stay away from me!" she yelled. "Don't ever touch me again."

"All right. I'm sorry. I got carried away. It won't happen again."

We looked at each other for the longest time. I had to get away from the park, Leah, the Cullens, everyone. This was how my life was going to be for now on; alone. I hated myself for thinking for a split second that I could have a normal relationship—well, as normal a relationship as possible between a vampire and a werewolf.

I knew at that moment what I needed to do. I understood that I could handle the smell of human blood and that I'd work out the details of the superhero or the vegetarian, but I had to do it alone.

"Go on back to Forks," I said. "I'm going to head north. I won't bother you again. Tell Carlisle that I appreciate what he did for me, more than he'll ever understand."

There was something in her face that I couldn't read. Was it regret? "Will you ever come back?" she asked.

I shrugged. "Maybe, but not for a long time. I've got some stuff I need to sort out. I'm sorry we couldn't be friends, Leah…" I let my voice drop off.

She nodded.

"See you later," I said and she nodded again.

I thought she was going to say something, like beg me to stay, but of course she didn't. She turned around and started running and I watched as she transformed into her more comfortable form.

I turned around and headed north.


End file.
